South Korea's Financial Watchdog Warns Foreign Exchanges Must Register in 2 Months

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit is pushing for exchanges to register in line with new anti-money laundering laws.

Jul 22, 2021 at 7:07 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:29 p.m. UTC

Foreign crypto exchanges that have customers in South Korea must register with the country's financial watchdog in the next two months or face blocked access and possible criminal inquiries.

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KFIU) is pushing for exchanges to register in line with the country's new anti-money laundering laws, according to a report by Yonhap News on Thursday,
An updated Financial Transactions Reports Act requires all crypto exchanges to register with the country’s regulators by Sept. 24 and obtain a certificate on information security.
Yonhap cites officials of the Financial Services Commission who said that no foreign crypto exchanges had obtained a certificate so far, echoing previous statements from its chair in April.
South Korea has been pushing for tougher legislation against virtual asset service providers, including exchanges.
The country doesn't recognize crypto as legal assets, even though it plans to start collecting tax generated by crypto revenue next year.

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